France has begun the process for arming its General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) MQ-9 Reaper Block 5 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), with a weapon integration contract awarded on 25 October.
France has begun the process of arming its Block 1 Reapers (pictured), and a contract has now been placed to do the same for the Block 5 vehicles to be delivered from 2020. (French Air Force)
The contract for the France MQ-9 Block 5 weaponisation and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) pod integration effort was awarded to GA-ASI by the US Department of Defense (DoD) acting on behalf of the French government.
According to the DoD, the work is valued at USD17.87 million and will run through to 30 November 2021.
France has so far received two Block 1 Reaper systems comprising six Reaper air vehicles (one of which subsequently crashed in November 2018), with a contract to arm these platforms with the GBU-12 Paveway precision-guided bomb awarded in March. This latest award will see the two Block 5 systems (six Reapers) to be delivered from 2020 being armed with the GBU-12 and the AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missile.
Besides arming its Block 5 Reapers, this contract provides for the integration of an FMS pod for electronic intelligence gathering.
The plan is that the Block 1s will be upgraded to the Block 5 configuration, with the French Air Force fielding 12 Block 5 Reapers (assuming the crashed aircraft is replaced) by the time that deliveries and upgrades are complete.
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